Jackson Laboratories

When Jackson Laboratories decided to build a new facility in Connecticut worth approximately $1.1 billion, they needed a durable and reliable coating system for their lab spaces. The building required floor and wall coating systems that would create a monolithic surface capable of withstanding repeated washdowns and aggressive cleaning solutions.

“Bioscience facilities like this often have trouble finding coatings that can meet their strict requirements,” stated David Pope, Tnemec coating consultant with Righter Group, LLC. “But Jackson Labs had been using Tnemec for more than a decade and had seen the performance of our coating systems firsthand.”Floors and walls in this $1.1 billion laboratory facility are finished with durable and chemical resistant coating systems from Tnemec.

Many pharmaceutical industry companies across the country trust Tnemec floor and wall systems for vivarium and biocontainment environments. Among the systems often specified, Tnemec’s Stranlok wall system – a fiberglass reinforced polyamine epoxy – provides a seamless surface with excellent chemical, stain, and impact resistance.

Walls in the new facility received a prime coat of Series 201 Epoxoprime followed by a base coat of Series 273 Stranlok ML. After a fiberglass mat was laid into the still-wet epoxy, another saturant coat of Series 273 was applied. Once cured, a coat of Series 280 Tneme-Glaze, a glaze-like epoxy used to help seal the system, was roller-applied to the walls, followed by a finish coat of Series 1081 Endura-Shield. Series 1081 provides added abrasion resistance and long-term color and gloss retention. The entire system is low VOC and low odor, making it safer and easier to apply in the enclosed spaces of the laboratories.

The facility’s concrete floors were primed with Series 241 Ultra-Tread MVT, and followed by Series 237 Power-Tread, a multi-purpose flooring epoxy, with a broadcast of decorative flake. This was topcoated with two coats of Series 256 Excellathane, a fast-curing aliphatic polyurethane, for added protection against abrasion and chemical exposure and extended gloss and color retention.

The facility owners and the applicators were more than pleased with the overall systems, according to Pope. “In a few years, some of the most advanced research and development will be completed at this facility.”

The new 183,500-square-foot facility, located on the campus of the University of Connecticut Health Center, will eventually house 300 plus researchers and technicians. This new genomic institute has already attracted the attention of the nation’s most accomplished and ambitious scientists.